Page 165 of When Love Takes Root

Kayden pushed off the doorframe. “You always say yes, ma’am that much?”

The knife in my hand paused against the cutting board.

Josiah placed the bowl back in the cabinet. “When I’m talking to a woman, yes.”

Kayden gave a dry little laugh. “That your thing?”

JJ’s fingers tightened around the pitcher handle.

Josiah closed the cabinet and turned without rushing. “Respect?”

Kayden shrugged. “Performance.”

The kitchen went too bright around me.

“Kayden Jeremiah.”

“What? I’m asking questions.”

“No, you’re being disrespectful in my kitchen.”

His eyes flashed, but his voice stayed low enough to pretend innocence. “So nobody can ask him anything?”

JJ set the pitcher down with more force than necessary. Water slapped the glass. He stared at Kayden for a second, nostrils flaring once, then looked down and dragged his thumb along the edge of the counter.

Maya’s pencil stopped moving.

Zuri lowered herself back onto the stool.

Skye hugged her spelling test to her chest.

Kayden’s jaw flexed because he’d thrown something sharp, and Josiah had refused to bleed where he could see it.

I wanted to snap. I wanted to pull Kayden into the hallway and ask him who he thought he was talking to. I wanted to apologize to Josiah, then apologize to my children for needing to apologize in the first place.

Instead, I pointed at Kayden. “Dining room. Plates. Now.”

For one breath, defiance flashed through his eyes.

Then he grabbed the stack of plates from the cabinet and walked away with his shoulders too high.

JJ watched him go, then swept his hand over his face again. The muscle in his jaw jumped, but he swallowed whatever had climbed up his throat and went back to setting out glasses.

Patient.

Steady.

Too aware to miss exactly what Kayden was doing.

That patience scared me because it gave my fear nothing ugly to point at.

The food was simple: baked chicken, rice, green beans, salad, rolls, and the lemon pound cake Leilani had dropped off sitting under foil on the counter. Sunday dinner carried more ceremony, but this was real dinner, and my children loved to act like cereal nights were evidence of hardship when the cereal had name-brand money behind it.

When we carried everything to the dining room, Josiah paused near the table.

His eyes went to Jamal’s chair.

I felt Kayden notice.